I find myself thinking this morning, how difficult it can be to be a faith person, in a cynical world.

I am an oddity to many, and I perceive that many just wonder, (and worry a little for me) when they hear the things I believe, and the things I say, on any given day.

I am prone to speak faith over situations, and defy the laws of the natural with my words (and prayers). I don’t necessarily believe in “JUST” asking God for something, I believe in speaking faith words into the atmosphere.

Many do not agree with me, but they are a little bit afraid to argue, too. I can almost hear their thoughts.

“Should I say something to Laura?” “Doesn’t she realize she isn’t always going to “get what she says?” Or “does she realize God is Sovreign, and what happens, is up to him?” When I speak big things in Faith, I’m sure they wonder, “Is she going to be okay when it doesn’t “GO” How she thinks it will?”

Many often think I do need a “reality check.”. Know how I know? No, so I will tell you: I know by the things people (often) say to me what they truly believe.

They don’t believe they are cynical. They believe they are right.

Jesus really did say in Matthew 21” but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.”

This does not mean every problem we have we just “speak to it’ and it goes away (according to our whim). However, there are times we do! And, things happen!

The “Blab it and Grab it” crowd gives Jesus a bad reputation! I don’t see Jesus speaking to every circumstance that was unpleasant, do you? So when we do this, our immaturity shows for all the world to see! And you give the gospel “a bad name” if you treat his word like a magical sceptor for your own personal gain.

Jesus did many different things at different times, as he “Did the Will of his Father in Heaven” (John 5:30). There were prophets in the Old Testament who spoke things (by Faith) some of it never happened in their lifetime,They still believed it.

A doctrine of man is when ONE thing he did, is emphasized to the point the full message of God gets distorted. If we want to be like Him (Christ-Like) we will reject none of his ways (or methods) but at the same time we will also not take one thing he does (or did) and blow it out of proportion.

I speak to situations when he leads me to do so. Those who have tried, or have seen someone, try to get rid of every problem Just by speaking Faith (when their hearts did not even believe what they were saying) Begin to get cynical, and think they have to “straighten out” Faith people, who seem to be ‘over the top.” It’s not one or the other, GOD”S WILL OR You Speaking Faith like he did!

You can believe for his Will AND speak Faith (to your Mountain) at the same time! The question is, what has his Word taught you to believe? Do you know what it says about every situation? (His word) or are you just listening to those who claim to know?

And why should we even believe them? Who are THEY to say what you should believe or not believe? Isn’t that between you and God, in your Covenant with Him?

I like the saying “Be Real” but it’s not always what it’s cracked up to be! Is it? If you are real with the wrong people, watch out! And you don’t always know who you can be real with, and who you cannot be real with. And by the way WHAT IS REAL? 😮😃

Say, now that’s a good question (isn’t it?) What is real to you? What is real to you, may not be real to me! What is real to me, may not be real to you! God is real to me.

Not because of someone telling me about him, because I’ve experienced him! How do I know that? Because too many things happened in answer to prayer that could not be explained any other way. The odds were “Against’ me” so many times (and I prayed) and God took care of me, provided, and it couldn’t be “Just luck” because nobody is that lucky! Did things go my way?

NOPE! Did I always like my situation (no, again) were things just hunky dory all the time? NO!! Here’s the thing, I asked him to provide he does. Now sometimes he gave me what I wanted, and sometimes he didn’t. sometimes I had to eat beans when I wanted some macaroni. other times i had to wear clothes i did not pick for myself. (but, beggars can’t be choosers!)

It’s hard to explain to people there is a time to be content, a time to pray for wisdom, a time to believe for God’s BEST and a time to let it all go and pray for someone else instead. There is a time to love your enemy and a time to be silent or let them go. There is a time to “overcome evil with good” and a time to “resist the devil” (even if it’s in a person) and he has to flee.

There are times for this and times for that. Times to be sad and grieve, times to say wow I’m really frustrated and have your friend just hug you.

it’s called WALKING by The Spirit! the disciples followed Jesus so do we! we get up and say “Holy Spirit “LEAD ON” and he does! (Lead us, I mean). How do you explain that to anyone? WE just KNOW it’s him because “things work out” and we don’t know how! (as we are not in charge here, GOD IS) WHy? Because we GAVE HIM THE REIGNS! I”ve seen lots of people say they gave God the reigns but they didn’t. I have said I did and didn’t! when you do you KNOW because stuff starts to happen that could only be God!! so GIVE HIM THE REIGNS on that thing you can’t fix, change or do anything about! He can keep you! He can help you! don’t try to control everything! Let it go and go do something else! YOU gave it to him. Trust me he never forgets a thing (I’ve seen this time and time again!)

PS “Give God the Reigns” on how real you should be too. Not everyone can handle it. 😉

I think there are a lot of Christians out there, like me, who truly do not know how to guard their heart. First and fore most we must give more weight to the voice of the Shepherd than anyone else.

We don’t need pretty lies of exaggerating how wonderful we are, and we don’t need Input from amateur counselors or the peanut factories. We certainly don’t need help allowing unbelief!

Because we are “word of God” people, we think if we can’t rebuke it, cast it out or get it gone via spiritual warfare, we are failing somehow. Not true.

Some people just ‘are what they are” and we must learn how to deal with it!

Step number one we need to keep learning and meditating on who we are to Jesus. that knowledge must become so real to us, nobody can talk us out of it. If the voice of someone else’s opinion of us screams louder than what God says, we must reinforce what he says about us until it’s more real than anything else.

In keeping with that train of thought, the accuser of the brethren (the devil) is always going to try to remind you of your past. That’s his job. He is evil. He isn’t going to stop so you must learn to overcome him with YOUR TESTIMONY. You speak it to him: “I am saved, God’s child, I’ve been forgiven of that” and if the person who is allowing the enemy to “USE THEM” to accuse you keeps it up, start to ignore it. It’s the best defense you have. IGNORE IT. You can’t argue with demons.

You can’t cast them out of someone who wants to stay that way. No, they may not be demon-possessed- they just listen to his lies and it’s become a part of them, like WEEDS. You cannot go into someone else’s garden and start yanking weeds out. You are trespassing! You are going to have to ignore it and tend to your own garden. Not what you want to hear, but true. Change the subject, dodge the questions, or say “I don’t want to talk about that right now.”

Do not ask for counsel from those who have no clue what you are talking about, or what you have been through. I don’t care what their credentials are or how much they “seem” to care. Ask God who you should talk to about something. SEEK HIM FIRST! He is your Shepherd, your counselor and your friend, and he is always listening.

You live in the world, so best to get started learning how to cope with things. Go to a rest room or go outside and pray. I’ve done this over the years, went to my car. Prayed, or even went to a restroom, prayed in whispers asking God for help, wisdom and guidance. I assume everything I go through he is RIGHT THERE WITH ME because he said he would be.

Family can be the hardest, because they knew you before you knew Jesus. Family has expectations that often feel like obligations. If we are a good sister, daughter, mom or son we will do this or that supposedly. Jesus told his own mom he was going about the Father’s business, but another time he did change water to wine because she asked him to do something about the situation. There are no pat answers, we must learn to say; “I am praying” I am “seeking God” and let everyone know (including your family) you are on a mission to do God’s will. We are not born “being like Jesus’ It’s something we are walking out.

Whatever weapons you know of right now (with God) use them, he will add to your skills as you use what he gave you. I started out a Lutheran Just ‘praying the Lord’s prayer” and now I know all kinds of spiritual warfare tactics. God is not in a hurry. You are in a school called life and he is willing to walk with you as your Father and help you to grow.

Learn from your experiences, write them down. Use a Journal use the computer and ask God to teach you in EACH situation how to handle it better next time. I have noticed things I run from I will usually face again, so best to learn to overcome it.

Give that other person the benefit of the doubt, whenever you can. Did they mean to hurt you or were they hurting themselves, distracted, or just clueless? We need to ask God “Why is this happening? Or “what do you want me to learn from this?”

There are some people who are just plain bullies, but what about the mandate to love them?Do we keep taking the hurt?

If I tell someone something wounds my soul and they keep doing it anyway, I am probably going to pull away from that person. When you go, say a prayer and give it to Jesus. Be willing to be reconciled later, if that’s what he wants you to do.

WHEN we guard our heart it’s not just against people. WE protect our heart from becoming bitter, angry, full of self-pity, and a host of other things the devil sends at us. There is no end to the things he will try, to destroy our very hearts. Do you know why?

BECAUSE my friends, that’s where the word of God gets planted and takes root. It’s where he speaks to us. It’s where rivers of life flow out of us!

Satan would rather take you out than take out a church building. If he can take you out, he has stopped the flow of God’s spirit to hundreds, or perhaps thousands of people due to the ripple effect. (you touch a life, they touch a life, and so on and so on and so on). Some people gaurd a church building more zealously than they protect their own hearts from the evil one. It’s a full time job!

I don’t take kindly to false accusations against my heavenly Father. In Fact, I think it stems from the devil. (the evil one)

When The Lord told Abraham Sodom and Gomorrah was going to be destroyed he pleaded with him saying “What if you find 10 righteous men?” Likewise, Moses interceded for the people. “Far be it from you Lord” They said, believing in God’s Mercy, Character, and Love.

In case you don’t see this, they instinctively KNEW God was good (and not out to destroy people!)

They had no teachings or books to hear all the things we can hear, or see for themselves the things we have at our disposal to see (and hear!).

Yet they KNEW, (deep down) God is good and that is why they could intercede for Mercy, on behalf of the people of Earth.

If someone runs down your family, I would hope you would stick up for them, (if there is anything worth defending!) God is definately worth defending!

He doesn’t go around killing people for disobeying him. No. Like humpty dumpty falling off that wall, men do harm to themselves by not seeking his council, or following God’s ways.

God literally pleads with us, using men to do so. God woos us, sends us faith preachers, and men and women who are willing to stand up for him!

If We don’t listen, or turn a deaf ear to what these Prophets, Preachers and Teachers say to us, and make fun of those who are gifted by the Holy Spirit to minister, we do so to our own demise, and harm.

The gods invented by many ancient civilations were were made “in the image of man.” They were angry, treacherous and punishing. Our God is kinder, wiser, more loving, longsuffering, and more beautiful than any of us could ever be.

Did you know producing fruit in your life is actually a Miracle? I remember how before I gave my life to Christ and received becoming born again, I didn’t like people much. In fact I had a whole lot of hatred, animosity, judgement, and even bitternessin my heart.

After I got saved, I could FEEL the love of God rushing up out of my very being. At that time there was a song by Dallas Holmes “I got love, love, love in my heart, I got peace like a river, that never will part……..” (Love in My Heart, Dallas Holmes).

Anyway, I would sing that song and I really MEANT IT For the first time in my life. It was something I could feel, I could grasp it, and I WANTED to go run out and bless people who had hurt me, or who didn’t show love to me first. Why? Because The Love of God was SO REAL TO ME It just flowed out of me. I wanted to ABIDE IN HIM!

Abiding in Jesus in the Vine is GOING to produce fruit. You don’t even have to worry about it! He will trim off the dead branches and be your Vinedresser.

(John 15)

Producing Fruit is also the evidence the CURSE is broken. Jesus said he became a curse for us. In Matthew 21 he curses a fig tree (for not producing fruit). it withers and dies shortly after that. I believe that story is not only about the power of our words but also it’s an outward manifestation of what happens to us if we are not IN HIM. Without him we will wither (and die).

Jesus doesn’t want us cursed, and he paid a heavy price to REDEEM us from the curse of the law. Just like when you redeem a coupon, you have to receive it, grab hold of it, and literally cash it in with Him! YOU Have the power whether or not to utilized what He did for you. See in Deut 28 when he talked about them being blessed (Fruitful) WITH HIM and cursed WITHOUT HIM It’s saying exactly the same thing as John 15. In the gospel the shadow is just eliminated, but it is actually saying the same thing!

From the very beginning (Gen 1) God said “be Fruitful!” Not just in spirit, but the Body as well. (one comes before the other, you see?). To be fruitful we must live in the right environment with the Lord. IN HIM! Any man-made, phony balogna, MFG Fruit is not what Jesus was talking about. He alone can make us fruitful! Our part is to give up our own ways, and surrender to Him, and his work within us.

A Passage about being Fruitful: (2 Peter 1) 5 “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.“

I’m going to be transparent with you today. Sometimes if I have given (and given) all that I have, and someone gets critical about how I did it, There is a point where I just want to give up on giving at all. There is a song about it and it basically says “My give a dang is broken.” In the world of biblically-correct Christians, it’s not okay to say that. Leaders go through it (at times) pastors of all kinds, even Mom’s who love their children dearly, experience this phenomina. Pastors and Moms have something in comnon too: They don’t dare say so “in front of the children.”

I won’t go into the reasons, We’ll just say some days “it all adds up” on us until we reach the tilting point or boiling point, as we may call it. I took it out on someone who did not deserve my wrath (and it’s happened before) All because criticism when I have given it all I’ve got, tends to send me through the roof at times.

The passage “God loves a Cheerful Giver” was going through my mind. I decided I was not cheerful, so maybe I should not have given at all. Maybe I should not minister at all! I was about to give up, when Jesus came on the scene with his rivers of Living Water and Mighty flood of revelation!

He said to me “It’s what it cost you” that is getting to you.” And then “Criticism under that cirumstance, is a sin.”

The story of the widow’s mite came to mind. “She gave all she had to live on” Jesus said and not from her abundance, but she gave all she had.” (Mark 12).

I know what Jesus is talking about here. I had a friend who typed me letters of encouagement with braces on his hands, because the pain in his hands was so bad he had to wear braces to do it. I just had someone tell me of a gift they are sending that cost them “all they have.” If you’ve ever given your last minute, your only day off, your only 5.00, or given up your only vacation to do something nice for someone else, you know exactly what I am talking about. Smug little sinners with no clue say things like, “Well You should not Martyr yourself!” or they might use a different passage of scripture (God loves a cheerful giver!).

I have a friend that works full time, and even on weekends at times, but she uses what little free time she has to post helpful scripture on the internet. She Loves Jesus and she gives ALL she has to live on (her wee bit of rest time sometimes) to bless others. When I see someone going on her FB wall having to “correct her” with their “Opinion” I wish I could go and say, “What is your problem?”

My aghast response to their treachery, is not so far from How Jesus sees it. (He told me so!) However, he also lets me know that he sees every thing we give, and why.

When someone gives all they have, their last day, minute, breath, or even dollar, (in his Name for his purpose) he sees it, and he commends them for it. Why did Jesus commend that woman? Because, he wanted to get a point across about giving it all (and what it means to him!). Anyone who unjustly criticises those who are giving it all, are sinning against Jesus himself, not just that person.

Now I ask you? How many people are supposedly “anti-bullying” and yet unjustly criticise the Lord’s servants, who are giving it all they’ve got? So now, what to do about it? GIVE AS UNTO JESUS and let the geese that bite you on the nose after you have helped them, go find their own bread. We need to be about the Father’s business, and doing what he has said to do!

Later Jesus told his disciples “When you enter a house, speak peace to it and if they do not receive it, your peace will return to you.” Whatever you have done for others will be returned to you………No labor of love is in vain. (Jesus’ promised us this).

41 Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. 42 Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. 43

So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury;44 for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.” Mark 12:41-44

I’m going to tell you why I posted this. I used to live in housing projects. We suffered years of poverty I still have the records. Living on 8,000 a year or less even 6,000 a year (a family of four) and I used to quote this scripture “He raises the Poor from the Dust” …….(Psalm 113)

And I’d say “AND IT”S TRUE FATHER” I believe you! Years later, things have really changed for me, and they have.

Every time I have plenty of toilet paper, I am thankful. And, When the bills are paid, and I don’t get shut off notices I say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU…..experiences like that you never forget all your life! Ask those who went through the great depression……..They just never forget what it was like 🙂

I can talk about building on the rock with Precious things, because I had the storms that took everything (and I barely escaped) and finally I got tired of it and said; “change me change me change me” ….people bailing you out will never change things.

The change must happen from within! We need Soul healing and restoration! We need God to CHANGE US to think LIKE HIM!

Amen? 🙏🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

The Loving kindness of God WILL LEAD someone to repentance if they have a heart after God in the first place such as “They want to know (the truth). Others will take and take and get mad at him when he wants them to learn and grow up and sometimes Will Basically tell God Where to stuff it and walk away….

If you read the book of Revelation, some will NEVER repent. They will curse God no matter what (and blame him for all disasters). I know a lot of people think I don’t understand love but I do. I will walk with someone to the end of the earth If they are just struggling to understand God. If they don’t care, and spit on him, and want nothing to do wtih Him, I’m gonna work with those whose hearts are crying out to him. I wasted so much time on those who did not care (to know) the truths that can make them free. No more! It’s called Co dependency or it could be called strengthening the hands of evil doers. (Bad idea!)

God’s going to have a church that speaks the truth once again, not molly coddling those who want nothing to do with Him. The excuses have to stop, And God will show and reveal “who is who” and what is what.

WE NEED God’s Wisdom! WE NEED His input! This is not a game.

Those who “poo poo” on all this will have the outcome of their (Own) ways. and last thing: Don’t Worship Angels or anyone but God. They are simply fellow servants with you. #worshipGodonly#blazingglory#choosingGodoverothers

“Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he [stopped me and] said to me, “You must not do that; I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers and sisters who have and hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God [alone]. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy [His life and teaching are the heart of prophecy].” Revelation 19:10 (When John saw an Angel)